Just then red neckties were in fashion. I wore a red necktie, and also pointed boots, and silk lapels on my coat.
I presented Iolanthe with rich gifts, a pearl necklace, which cost three thousand dollars, and a famous solitaire that had come up for auction in Paris. Every day roses and orchids were shipped to her from my hothouses--but by express, because my flowers were less valuable than my colts.
By the way, my colts, you know--but no, I didn't set out to tell about my colts.
CHAPTER VI
Well, at this point, gentlemen, I leave a blank and pass on to the wedding day.
My father--in--law, who always landed on his feet like a cat, had decided to exploit my popularity for his own ends, and he utilised the celebration of my wedding for renewing his connection with all the people who had long been avoiding him.
He dived deep into his pocket and arranged a prodigious feast, at which, as he expressed it, champagne was to flow in rivulets along the table.
No need to tell you that the whole hullabaloo was a nuisance to me; but that's just the trouble about being a bridegroom. He is a ridiculous figure whose organs of will have been peeled out of his cranium for the time being.
On the morning of the great day I was sitting in my study--very cross--the whole house stinking of paint--when the door opened and Lothar came in.
In high feather apparently--had on top boots--threw himself on my neck. Hurrah! Dear old uncle! Travelled all night to be here on time; won the prize the day before at the steeplechase; rode like the devil; didn't break his neck anyhow; drank like a fish. Still he was fresh; ready to dance like a top; brought some surprises along--very fiery kind; I was to give him twenty-five men to drill immediately--and so forth.